Heightscast

Heights Headmaster Alvaro de Vicente presents his vision of education for boys. Hear our headmaster discuss the role of parents, faculty, and school in the raising of "men fully alive." Sometimes we fall short, but this is our aspiration.

Join CFO Phil McGovern and Director of Annual Giving James Kolakowski for a discussion on smart giving. The new tax laws, stock market, and end of year present interesting opportunities for donors and schools alike. Listen in to hear more about how to make the most of your gifts!

Jeremy Tate, President and Co-Founder of the Classical Learning Test, and Kirby Hartley, Director of Outreach, join us for a conversation about the new SAT. The revised SAT is easier, aligns (and promotes) the Common Core, and has proven less helpful to top students than previous versions of the test. Learn how the CLT presents an alternative route to college entry that supports the mission of schools like The Heights.

Lower School Head, Colin Gleason, offers a Heights Lecture on integrity. He shares how honesty requires far more than merely telling the truth; our boys must learn to live the truth.

Boys need mentors. We know this intuitively from our observations of young and older boys alike. But why? Join Mr. Joe Cardenas (Head of Mentoring) and Alex Berthe (7th Grade Core Teacher) for a conversation on why boys–and their parents–need mentoring.

Hillsdale College Dr. Matt Spalding continues his conversation with us about American History, and the theory of education in 20th century America. If you haven't listened to Part I of the episode, listen here. 3:28: Schools are trying to do too much in their study of History. APs and other similar courses and curricula force us to cover too much ground in a superficial way. The most important task for parents and teachers is to give students an imagination. Otherwise, history becomes flat and dry. We should be more simple in our approach; students can find data on their own with ease if they have basic skills. We have to break through the idea that there are no absolute truths. 8:28: American education shifted in the Progressive Era due to the influence of, among others, John Dewey. Classical and Medieval thought had a shared understanding of reality, which is why Shakespeare, Aristotle and Aquinas could all talk about the same things. In the modern world, there is a shift beginning with Machiavelli, a

Matt Spalding discusses the importance of studying history, and the problems with the contemporary approach.

Dr. Matthew Mehan unpacks the liberal arts. We can throw the term around to describe our school, but do we really understand what we mean? Is it more than a list of good books? Dr. Mehan explores what it means to be a student of the "arts of liberty"–a life long pursuit.  For all of us.

Dan Lively joins us for a podcast on Systems for Athletic Success. Why Sytems and not Goals? Scott Adams, "How to Fail at Everything and Still Win Big." Washington Post Article on GW's Nick Griffin. Systems for Athletic Success MobilityWod Systems for Commitment and Communication Do sports always build character?

Michael Moynihan, Upper School Head at The Heights, offers practical and concrete guidance on how to help your son right the academic ship when his failure is entirely within his control.   Michael Moynihan, Upper School Head at The Heights, offers practical and concrete guidance on how to help your son right the academic ship when his failure is entirely within his control.  As you will hear in this episode, we reference two other episodes related to academics:  Cal Newport on APs, Worklife Balance, and How to be a High School Superstar (https://heightsforum.org/podcast/forming-deep-workers-part-ii/) Joe Cardenas and Gerard Babendreier on the Strategic Enterprise of Study (https://heightsforum.org/podcast/the-strategic-enterprise-of-upper-school-study-a-k-a-homework/) In academics, as in other areas, we come face to face with the cold and hard fact that our boys' destiny is very much in their hands.  We temper that realization with a healthy dose of patience and optimism, and with the knowledge that t

This week we re-listen to an interview with Eric Heil on the importance of Green Time. Through his experience teaching 3rd graders, Eric demonstrates the benefits that come with exposure to nature.

Headmaster Alvaro de Vicente discusses things that we can do to help our sons "walk with kings, but keep the common touch" (Kipling) in this age of affluence.  Listen to part 1 to hear him discuss the challenges; part 2 presents positive points for us to consider as we navigate the current era.

This podcast features the first half of a lecture delivered by our headmaster on the topic of Raising Boys in an Age of Affluence.  We live in one of the wealthiest cities, in the wealthiest country, in the wealthiest era in the history of the world. In general, there's no place we'd rather be and we are blessed. There are however, certain predispositions that societal affluence can engender in our students and sons. There are also many things that we, as parents and teachers, can do to cultivate our sons into tough, mindful, devoted men. Tune into HeightsCast next week for part II of the lecture.

The Heights requires its students to study Latin. Why? Is it from a love of the old? Are we simply fascinated by antiquity? To the contrary, there are excellent practical and existential reasons for classical studies. The benefits we seek in language study generally are found to be more powerful within the particular study of Latin. Moreover, speaking the language of the ancients allows us to communicate with them.  This bears fruit in our capacity to know the truth, and our ability to serve the polity through well-informed and practical citizenship. Listen in to hear Mr. Myers and Dr. Yaceczko discuss why your sons will spend at least three of their years here learning a language that can help us be fully alive.

Today on HeightsCast, Joe Cardenas, Head of Mentoring at The Heights, proposes 5 purposes of study. Our boys should always have a "why" in mind before they roll up their sleeves and dive into their study. But are grades enough? Not really--at least they shouldn't be.  Joe argues that there is a deeper purpose to our deep study.

Dr. Cal Newport joins us for Part II of his interview on Forming Deep Workers. What does a middle or high school deep worker look like? Cal Newport discusses APs, Classroom Tech, College Admissions, and more.

As parents, we fight distraction in our lives daily. Our phones tether us to the trivial, and our inability to stay off email for even limited periods of time costs us the rewards and satisfaction of deep work.  America’s youth, to an even greater extent, are losing the ability to focus on difficult tasks. This podcast features Cal Newport, author of Deep Work, So Good They Can’t Ignore You, and How to Be a High School Superstar. Dr. Newport, a Computer Science professor at Georgetown University, has a strong following in The Heights community, as his notions of deep work jive perfectly with our attempts to raise contemplative sons and competent professionals. Listen in, both for your son and for yourself. Stay tuned for next week’s episode with Cal on How to Be a High School Superstar, and to learn more about Cal and his work check out his blog at CalNewport.com.

This week on HeightsCast Dr. Matt Mehan offers his thoughts on Homer's Odyssey. In particular, Dr. Mehan focuses on the the first four books of the Odyssey and the arts of friendship and mentoring young men. Listen in for a concrete example of the contemporary applicability of the artes liberales.

Join Mr. Tom Longano for part two of his series on raising readers. He provides guidance here for refining the reading habits of two diametrically opposed categories of readers. No silver bullets, just points for consideration and reflection. Also, insights into Mr. Longano's personal journey towards a love of reading.

As fathers, we play a central and critical role in the lives of our families.  Despite that, however, we have lost many of the communities that in ages past offered us practical advice and wisdom.  Michael Moynihan steps into this void offering the contemporary father concise and thoughtful timeless advice about how to fulfill your role as a father.  In this podcast, Michael talks about his new book, and some of the central components of being the pater familias.